An in-depth look at a photograph by Alex Webb

THIS VIDEO: For this episode of Photoday I would like to take an in-depth look into a photograph by Alex Webb. It first appeared in his 1989 book on Haiti called Under a grudging sun. At the time of it’s release this work broke a bunch of conventions and it shifted Alex into a whole different strata within the photography world. Even though he had been a member of Magnum since 1976, his ability to integrate vivid colours and deep shadows with unconventional framing elevated his photojournalistic work into the realm of poetry or art.

ABOUT ME: The conversations focus on topics related to different aspects of photography including: art, documentary and photojournalism. The discussions explore the personal experiences of photographers and artists and how their work reflects both their internal and external landscape. During the past 30 years I have photographed in over 50 countries for magazines including National Geographic, Time, New York Times and Newsweek. I have held solo exhibitions in New York, London and Paris and my work is showcased in private and institutional art collections around the world.

MUSIC: Outro music clip from In the Shadows by Ethan Meixsell.

[Diffany]

Thank you for the in depth analysis! Amazing! I learned so much! Thank you!!

[nnelgsiggah]

Alex Webb is favorite of mine and I own a couple his books including some with his wife. I loved your project and I can see his influence in your images. Thanks for sharing and providing insight into his and your work. I’m not a professional photographer and find your channel very informative and helpful.

[nocommentnoname]

Excellent analysis of one of my favorite images of Alex Webb.

Eddit: I am still waiting for the ash to drop. :)

[benroyal]

Just found this video. It has the best explanation of Alex Webb's work I've found. Thanks.

[sariepotter]

Interesting that you use the word 'instinct' to describe a lucky moment with a fast eye. I like it

[thomaseriksson]

Thank you for the lecture. I got a feeling of depth in his pictures. Is he inspired by William Eggleston? I think this is what is called a open composition

[almostgreen]

I was shocked to see how well the rule of thirds grid fit. Do people skilled at pattern recognition see it immediately? Thanks for pointing out the kid peeking round the corner.

[TruthFighter]

I have a problem with this photo: See the hand in the foreground, on the right? Why isn't the face of the guy on the left lit like that? Why is he so dark when his face is in direct sun? And why is the kid in the back ground in silhouette? He should be as well lit as the two women, yet there isn't even any bounce light on him. When I tweaked the photo I could see he is wearing a white shirt. Did Alex do some diddling here?

[mike.photo]

Hi
Your videos are very interesting and enjoyable to watch, but in this one, in my humble opinion at least, you are losing the point with all this hyper analysis (all those lines, all those arrows etc.). Even Alex Webb himself would be really surprised by watching this. And, also, he wouldn’t be able to see the point of so many words, because when he made the picture he didn’t think anything of those. He just saw harmony in the small box that his camera focal length was able to catch.
The human brain has the ability to recognize patterns in the surrounding world. Some brains can see them better than others and most important they can do that more quickly, almost instantaneously. This is what Webb did here. He saw a pattern which was about to last for a minute fraction of time, 1, 2, 3 seconds only. And he was lucky to be there, in the right time, in the right position, with a camera ready to shoot. That’s all. He didn’t think about lines and arrows. He just shot.
I said above that he was lucky, except of talented of course, as we must not underestimate luck in photography. Without luck even the elite of those great artists would have done very little. Just see the example of Garry Winogrand. He left behind 200-300 great photos but in his career as a photographer he shot more than 4 millions. Where are the rest? Same with Robert Frank, one of the greatest. To end up with about 87 pictures in the Americans he made more than 28.000 shots (as he said, maybe it’s more and vanity is human). So, where are the others? Where are the remaining 27.913, which are not in any photo album and they will never be?
Please, don’t get me wrong. I would never dare to say that those few men and women that gave us all this beauty were not talented and gifted and they were just lucky. But they were also lucky. And they were dedicated professionals, not Sunday shooters like us, who did that job 24/7, 365 days a year. And in this process, they made tons of junk.
To make a long story short, for us, the viewers it’s only the aesthetics. The joy of seeing the harmony in the whole without analyzing so much.

Sorry for the long comment and for my English (it is not my native language).